BILL and Kathryn Mottram have a commanding view of beautiful countryside and a river from their home.

It is from here that they have watched in pity and despair as their neighbours nearer the river have suffered deluge after deluge over the past few years.

But the couple, who are both 41, have taken some comfort from the fact that the property they moved into in 1998 will never suffer the same fate.

Not once in Mill Farm's long history have the raging waters of the local river reached the hilltop retreat.

So it was with a mixture of anger and amazement that the Mottrams were informed in February this year that their household insurance was being raised by a massive 120pc to #2,364 a year.

The reason? They are in danger of flooding. "I thought it was a mistake," Bill says. "But no, it wasn't."

Bill immediately got on the phone to find a more competitive deal, but no other insurer would touch the Mottrams.

"The reason I was given every time was that we live in an area that regularly floods.

Bill, a semi-retired managing director of several companies, and Kathryn, are lucky they can afford to pay their insurance premiums. But as Bill points out, "Heaven knows what you would do if you didn't have the money. I have heard that downstream people can't get insurance or that their premiums are so high they have had to let it lapse."

Bill and Kathryn are pinning their hopes on the Environment Agency issuing them with a certificate they can show to insurers saying they are not at risk from flooding.

"The real worry is that like other people in this area we may find we can no longer get insurance," Bill says.

As extremes of weather become commonplace, more and more people are finding they can no longer slam shut their front door and keep the outside world at bay.

Flooding is becoming a problem for an increasing number - whether directly or indirectly. A report from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) analyses the practical implications of climate change for both insurers and customers, highlighting the effects that changing weather is already having.

It shows that in the 1990s there was a significant increase in the number of months of both extreme hot and wet weather. During this decade there were 34 months of extreme hot weather, compared to a previous average of just 12 months per 10 years. The number of winter storms crossing the UK has also doubled in the past 50 years.

But of perhaps more concern to householders is the news that weather-related claims on property insurance have doubled to more than #6bn between 1998 and 2003, compared with the previous five years.

The ABI's report, A Changing Climate for Insurance, predicts that claims could treble if no action is taken.

To put this into context, if the present weather trends continue, subsidence claims are set to double in bad years to #1.2bn by 2050. Claims for storm damage are expected to treble to #7.5bn.

The ABI's predictions are borne out by the European Environment Agency (EEA), which reports around two in three catastrophic events since 1980 have been directly attributable to floods, storms, droughts or heat waves.

And the increase in flooding poses the greatest danger to people.

Around two million UK homes and 130,000 businesses are now deemed to be in high risk flood areas and face higher premiums as a result.

But before those living in "safe" areas start congratulating themselves on their choice of neighbourhood, climate change is set to affect insurance premiums across the board, with health, car and liability cover all likely to be influenced by our changing weather patterns.

Car insurers are already reporting a dramatic rise in the number of claims resulting from winter weather problems linked to ice and flooding - 8% in 1998-99 to 24% in 2003-04.

Dr Andrew Dlugolecki, an international authority on climate change and the author of the ABI's report, paints a depressing picture of what the future might hold.

"There is a risk that, in some circumstances, damage might rise to the point where insurance could become unaffordable or unavailable."

And Jill Boulton of Norwich Union, says some people - especially those in new-builds where the developer has not thought about flood protection - could find themselves uninsurable.

Householders in areas where the authorities have not taken adequate action or where they themselves have failed to take precautions, could also be hit, although NU has given a guarantee to existing customers it will not pull out of providing cover.

Typically insurers rely on postcodes, covering around 10 to 15 properties, to calculate risk. This means someone living on a hill, say, but in a high-risk area, could end up paying premiums disproportionate to the actual risk.

All that could soon be a thing of the past, however. Norwich Union will by the end of this year have completed a new flood map of Britain developed using technology which singles out homes prone to flooding with precision not seen before. The new map will identify not only the exact position of each home and its height above sea level, but those in line for sharp increases in premiums and excess levels, and those which may deserve a cut in charges.

NU's new flood map is already proving a success. The number of properties it classes as difficult to insure has already dropped from one million to 400,000.

Steve Kingshott, the group marketing manager for More Than, says, "In the future it won't just be about risk assessment according to postcode. We're going into geo-coding every property.

"The difference in sub-soil could mean a difference in premiums of around #100 for neighbouring houses. Those on clay will be most vulnerable."